Brett Duke / The Times-PicayuneA firefighter washes a truck that was pulled from the Borrow Pit Canal Oct. 31 in Destrehan. The driver was killed.

State officials announced last month a plan to spend at least $1 million on a barrier designed to keep cars from plunging into a canal along Airline Drive in St. Charles Parish.

As exciting as it is to learn that the stretch of road alongside the Borrow Pit Canal will be made safer, the projected timetable is frustrating. The state Department of Transportation and Development plans to go out for bids in 2010, with construction to begin some time after that.

On Oct. 31, rescuers pulled another vehicle out of the canal.

Something may have happened to Mitchell D. Edwards of Tylertown, Miss., before he ran off the road and into the canal. A co-worker in a nearby truck said he'd been complaining of chest pains. Even so, there was no barrier to keep his truck out of the canal, which meant that there was little chance Mr. Edwards could be saved.

A speedier timetable would be celebrated by drivers whose commutes take them past the canal. Knowing that the barriers are coming will never be as comforting as seeing the barriers in place.